recipe | ON TARGET in CANADA

Recipe: Moose Tenderloin Lettuce Wraps

This super simple lunch idea will definitely be something you’ll be sure to make over and over.

Ingredients
marinated moose tenderloin (thinly sliced) Get Marinate Recipe HERE

1 head butter lettuce
1 carrot
1 mini cucumber
feta cheese

Honey Cherry Dressing
1/2 cup cherries
3/4 cup red wine
2 tbsp honey

For the cherry dressing simply put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer. Describe it as, once you can’t smell the alcohol anymore it’s ready! Take it off the burner and let cool. As it cools it will gradually thicken.

Pan fry the moose until desired done-ness. If you are like me and you like your meat not kicking anymore, then simply remove the meat just before its cooked all the way through. If it’s sliced thinly it will continue to cook after you take it out of the pan and will be the exact done-ness and will be nice and tender.

Next up shave your vegetables. Grab a potato peeler and shaved off nice strands of carrots and cucumbers to add in to the lettuce cups. If you prefer them chopped or grated, by all means go right ahead!

Place your butter lettuce leaves on a plate and begin to assemble and alternated between moose and veggies, crumble feta cheese on top and drizzle the Honey Cherry Dressing on top.

Make as many lettuce cups as you’d like depending on how much meat you used!

Enjoy!

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on October 12, 2015 in butcher, cooking, how to, moose, moose hunting, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Cook, diy, Food, how to, hunting at wawang lake, moose hunting, recipe, Wawang Lake, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Moose Stir Fry

09 Oct

This delicious moose dish is low in fat. The amount of each ingredient is proportional to how many people you’re serving. Using half a pound of moose, as this recipe does, makes two large servings.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. moose steak
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup celery
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup broccoli
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp cumin
Cooked noodles (excluding seasoning packet)

Preparation

Slice steaks cross grain and marinade in soy sauce for one day. Throw a little oil into a hot wok to avoid sticking. Stir in moose for about 1 minute.
Add other ingredients, including seasoning, stirring frequently. Add additional soy sauce to coat all ingredients.
Stir in noodles and serve immediately.

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEBSITE RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on October 9, 2015 in moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Moose, moose hunting, moose hunts, moose recipe, recipe, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Recipe: Sausage and Slaw Soup

11 Sep

Here’s a simple take on a sausage-based soup that’s sure to satisfy your pallet after a brisk day of hunting. To make things even easier, you can cheat and go with a bag of pre-chopped slaw mix from the grocery store.

Sausage and Slaw Soup

Ingredients
– ½ pound sliced sausage
– 1 Tbsp. canola oil
– 1 medium onion, chopped
– 4 garlic cloves, minced
– 1 ½ lb. bag of pre-packaged slaw mix
– 1 tsp. salt
– 1 Tbsp. flour
– 1 cup water
– 2 cups beef broth
– 1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
– 2 tsp. each dried parsley and dill

Directions:
1. Over a medium-high burner, heat the oil in a saucepan or soup pot. Add the sausage to the oil and cook until brown. . Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Stir in the garlic and slaw mix to the saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cabbage is wilted. Sprinkle the salt and flour over the onions and cabbage and stir.

3. Add the water, broth, and red pepper flakes. Raise heat and bring just to the point of boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the parsley and dill. Serve with a thick slice of crusty bread.

ENJOY!!

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on September 11, 2015 in meat, preparation, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Cook, diy, recipe, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Moose Stir Fry

29 Jul

This delicious moose dish is low in fat. The amount of each ingredient is proportional to how many people you’re serving. Using half a pound of moose, as this recipe does, makes two large servings.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. moose steak
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup celery
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup broccoli
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp cumin
Cooked noodles (excluding seasoning packet)

Preparation

Slice steaks cross grain and marinade in soy sauce for one day. Throw a little oil into a hot wok to avoid sticking. Stir in moose for about 1 minute.
Add other ingredients, including seasoning, stirring frequently. Add additional soy sauce to coat all ingredients.
Stir in noodles and serve immediately.

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEBSITE RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on July 29, 2015 in moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Moose, moose hunting, moose hunts, moose recipe, recipe, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

BBQ Moose Roast

24 Jun

How to Barbeque a Moose Roast

Have you ever wanted to barbeque a moose roast and still have it be tender? We have, and recently cooked a moose round roast on the barbeque that was so tender once we carved it, it was possible to cut it with your fork.

How did we do it? Let me tell you about it.

I started out with a moose round roast; I know this is not the best cut to be barbequing. So I knew it would require moist heat if it were to be palatable.

I remembered a friend of mine telling me how he had cooked ribs on his barbeque and had great results. I wondered if I could achieve the same?

mooseroast1

I wanted to give it a try.

The Process

The process is quite simple really, and you could likely apply this to any meat that is tough.

Cook it with moisture over a long period of time.

How much time… I cooked our roast for almost 9 hours.

Ingredients:

Moose round roast 3 pounds
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic (elephant)
1 1/2 cups of barbeque sauce

Directions: Barbeque a Moose Roast

Thaw the moose roast in your refrigerator

Coarse chop the onion

Peel and slice half of the garlic and mince the balance

Start with a 8 inch by 8 inch roasting pan and place the moose round roast that you plan to barbeque onto a thin layer of the chopped onions.

Place the rest of the onions around the roast evenly.

What I did next was to sprinkle the onions with the sliced garlic and rubbed the roast itself with the minced garlic.

I followed this by pouring the barbeque sauce over the roast.

Once this was complete I covered the entire pan with a layer of heavy aluminum foil and took the pan (with the roast in it) outside to my barbeque.

I lit one burner (in my case the right hand one) and set it to low heat. I then placed the covered pan containing the moose roast I wished to barbeque on the left hand side well away from the heating element.

I then closed the lid.

I have a thermometer on the outside lid of my barbeque I maintained a constant temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 9 hours, until the internal temperature reached a minimum of 140 degrees; or your required doneness.

At the end of the cooking time the barbequed moose roast was cooked to perfection.

We served the moose roast with baby potatoes, carrots, chopped onions and mushrooms. All of which were cooked on the barbeque while the roast was cooking. All the veggies were wrapped in foil; salt, pepper and butter were added and placed directly over the burner that was set on low temperature. About 1 1/4 hours.

We made gravy from the juice from the meat pan as well we added the onions from the meat pan to our veggie dish.

Also we had grape tomatoes with feta cheese dressed with Balsamic Vinegar Reduction…

The barbequed moose roast, the entire dish… well…

Delicious

Now I can say we learned how to barbeque a moose roast… and have it tender too!

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on June 24, 2015 in moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Moose, recipe, roast, tender, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Grinding Wild Game with Meatloaf Recipe

24 May

For foodies, especially those smart enough to eat within their means, there is no better everyday meat than wild-game burger, whether it is from elk, antelope, moose, or most likely, whitetail deer. No meat sold at the farmer’s market is more local, humanely raised, drug free, and genetically unmodified than that from a wild animal cleanly killed by the hunter. And if you process it yourself, you know exactly what you’re getting. No mystery meat or pink slime scares when it’s done D.I.Y. If you do decide to do the grinding at home, there are a few things to note when processing wild game into ground meat. Here are few tips to get the best from your burger.

1. Buy The Best Grinder You Can Afford—and Keep it Sharp
An underpowered grinder, or one with a dull knife, won’t grind meat cleanly. If the meat coming from the grinder plate looks like it’s been extruded rather than cut, make sure the back of the plate is free from sinew and the retaining ring is on tight.

2. You Get Out What You Put In
Who knows what ground meat from the grocer contains. When you do it yourself, you control the final product. Make sure you clean your meat well and trim with a judicious, yet keen, hand. Trim sinew, yellow fat, silverskin, and all bloodshot meat before it goes into the grinder.

3. Keep Things Cold
You’ll get a much better grind with less smear if your meat, and the grinder, is cold. Put cubed meat in the freezer for at least 30 minutes until it’s firm, but not hard, to the touch. Also, throw the grinder neck, auger, blades, and plate in there as well.

4. Don’t Forget Fat
Beef has fat built right in, but wild game burger needs a boost. You can use several things to up the fat content (and flavor) depending on what the final product is going to be. Bacon trimmings (sold in boxed form often called Ends and Pieces) add a distinctive flavor to burgers and meat loaf. Beef tallow and pork butt are both available from good butchers and make great fat additives. You can control the ratio of meat to fat, but I like somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 percent. Experiment until you find what’s right for you.

5. Or, Cut The Fat
Some folks want to cut the fat altogether and that’s fine, too. Just realize that a 100-percent wild-game burger can be very dry and will fall apart when cooked. To avoid crumbly burger, consider adding some type of moisture as you form your patties (same goes for meatloaf). This can be anything from eggs to bread crumbs soaked in milk. Last summer, Wild Chef readers turned in a bunch of great ideas for better burgers.

Meat Loaf

Ingredients
– 1 lb. ground meat
– 8 oz. can tomato sauce
– 1 egg, beaten
– 16 to 20 Saltine cracker crumbs
– 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal
– 1/2 onion, chopped
– ¼ cup ketchup

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix ground meat with tomato sauce and beaten egg.

2. Crush the Saltines in a gallon-sized zip-top bag and mix in the dry oatmeal and chopped onion.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the meat-egg mixture and, using your hands, blend thoroughly.

4. Form meat mixture into a loaf pan. Liberally cover top with ketchup. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour.

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on May 24, 2015 in Bear, cooking, moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: black bear hunting, Cook, grind meat, meatloaf, Moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort, wildgame meatloaf, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Wild Game Recipe: Rabbit Sott’olio

08 May

Employing an old Italian method of preserving meats and vegetables called sott’olio, submerge rabbits in oil and slow-cooks them until the meat is tender and rich. Then dress the warm meat in a salad for a perfect counterbalance. The only difficult part of this recipe is pouring that much oil into a pot—but it’s worth it. Be sure to fish the garlic out of the oil for later: Spread the cloves on toasted bread for a killer snack.

Ingredients
– 2 whole wild rabbits, cleaned
– About 3 quarts vegetable oil
– About 1 quart, plus
– 1 Tbsp., plus 1⁄4 cup, olive oil
– 2 whole heads garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves
– 6 sprigs fresh thyme
– 1⁄3 cup, plus 1⁄4 cup,
– red wine vinegar
– 1 red onion, sliced
– 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1⁄2-inch pieces
– 4 cups baby arugula
– 1⁄4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
– 1⁄4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shaved or grated
– Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rub the rabbits with salt and pepper and place in a Dutch oven. Pour in about three parts vegetable oil to one part olive oil, enough to fully submerge the rabbits. Add the garlic and thyme, and cover the Dutch oven. (A sheet of aluminum foil underneath the lid is a good idea.) Place in the oven and cook for about 11⁄2 hours, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Let cool.

2. Meanwhile, combine the 1⁄3 cup red wine vinegar in a small saucepan with 1⁄3 cup water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Put the red onion slices in a bowl, and pour the vinegar mixture over the onions. Stir, add salt and pepper, then allow the onions to pickle at room temperature.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over low heat in a saucepan, and add the carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the carrots are tender but not mushy. Add salt and pepper, and reserve.

4. Make a vinaigrette: Put the remaining 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar in a bowl and gradually whisk in 1⁄4 cup olive oil, until the oil and vinegar are thoroughly integrated. Add salt and pepper.

5. When the rabbits are cool, remove the meat from the bones and reserve.

6. To serve, reheat the rabbit meat in a pan with some of the oil, over low heat, just to warm through. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the arugula with the red onions (drained), carrots, pine nuts, cheese, and about 3 Tbsp. vinaigrette. Divide the salad among four plates, and top with the rabbit, adding a few more shavings of cheese and salt and pepper as desired. Serves 4

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on May 8, 2015 in cooking, hunting, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort, Wildlife

Tags: Cook, diy, Food, rabbit, rabbit recipes, recipe, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

How Marinade Works

22 Apr

For some reason, the go-to recipe for wild-game always starts with “Soak (insert game meat here) in Italian dressing for three days.” Seriously, how many times have you heard a hunter say this?

One argument for using marinades is that they help tenderize tough meat. But this is probably the biggest misconception about using marinades, at least if you believe in science.

“When proteins are exposed to an acidic marinade, the bonds break and the proteins unwind. Almost immediately, one unwound protein runs into another unwound protein and they bond together into a loose mesh. This is the same thing that happens when proteins are exposed to heat. At first, water molecules are attached to and trapped within this protein mesh, so the tissue remains juicy and tender. But after a short time, if the protein is in a very acidic marinade, the protein bonds tighten, water is squeezed out, and the tissue becomes tough.”

This and similar studies have also found that the acids used in marinades penetrate meat at the rate of one to two millimeters per day. So even a three-day marinade isn’t going to penetrate much past the surface of the meat. Now, there are marinades that call for enzymes (such as those found in pineapple, papaya and yogurt) rather than acids, and enzymes actually do tenderize meat by breaking down the muscle fibers and the collagen that holds muscles together. However, you have to be very careful when marinating with enzymes as they can make meat mushy rather than just tender.

If a marinade doesn’t tenderize meat, why use it?

Marinades are great for enhancing the flavor of the meat. Note: ENHANCE, not cover up. For game birds, the lighter flavored the marinade the better. Venison and red meat, particularly from older animals, can handle heartier marinades, but again, be careful not to overpower the game.

Because marinades also coat the surface of the meat, they help keep it moist, which is particularly useful for cooking over high-heat, such as grilling or pan-frying.

Anytime you’re cooking wild-game, it’s a good idea to reserve some marinade for basting. But remember to not reuse marinade that’s had meat soaking in it as your basting. Reserve some liquid separately to prevent cross-contamination.

So what’s the best marinade if it isn’t Italian dressing? That depends on what flavor you’re looking for, but here’s one to use for grilled ruffed grouse breasts. It’s a little sweet and a little salty, with some Asian influence that makes it wonderful for a stir fry or even just grilling and chopping it up to serve in a soup with some noodles. Dress that with some diced jalapeño and some cilantro and it makes a great lunch.

Honey-Ginger Ruffed Grouse Marinade

Ingredients
– 2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
– 2 tbs. honey
– 1 tbs. soy sauce
– 1 tbs. sesame (or olive) oil
– fresh, grated ginger

Directions:
Whisk ingredients together and pour over pheasant breasts. Let marinate 1-2 hours before grilling.

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on April 22, 2015 in cooking, game, grouse, hunting, meat, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, grouse recipe, recipe, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake Resort

FUN Camo Cupcake Sandwiches

19 Apr

Camo cupcakes are surprisingly easy to make considering how cool they look!

To make the cupcake sandwiches, start by mixing up a box of French vanilla cake batter, then divide the batter into four equal parts in four separate bowls. Use Kelly green, brown, and black gel dyes to tint the batter army green, black, brown, and beige (see handy-dandy chart, below).

Once all the batters are mixed up, spoon the batter bit by bit, color by color, into a whoopie pie pan – or to get the waffle effect shown here, use a Wilton ice cream sandwich pan instead.

Bake the cakes for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. After baking, remove each cake and cool on a wire rack, then sandwich them together with frosting that’s been tinted army green. Be sure to check out Debbie’s blog for her shortening-free whoopie pie frosting recipe!

…and yes – you can make these in pink, too! (Adorable!)

Follow our FISHING BLOG

WEB RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Go back

Your message has been sent

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on April 19, 2015 in Camping, cooking, do it yourself, how to, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: camo cupcakes, cupcakes, fun camo cupcakes, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Morel Mushrooms Hunting For The Beginner

17 Apr

Morels are America’s mushroom, more so than any other. It may be because they’re widespread, they’re easy to identify, and they come up in the spring, giving people a reason to get out and enjoy warm weather after a long winter. Or, it could be they’re popular simply because they taste so good. Morels are so prized they sell for up to $20 a pound in grocery stores in most locations. Here’s a quick guide to finding your own. Please note that although morels are easy to identify, this a hunting guide, not a field guide. If you have any doubt about a mushroom, don’t keep it.

Found in much of the U.S. from late March through May, the morel is our favorite mushroom: plentiful, easy to identify, and delicious. It has colorful names like Molly Moocher, Miracle, Dry land Fish—or, my favorite, Hickory Chickens—but mostly, people just call them “mushrooms” and it’s understood that means “morels.”

Identifying Safe Morels

Here are two morels in the wild. Notice the pits (in the top photo), the distinctive conical shape, and the way the bottom of the cap (the pitted part) is attached near the bottom of the stem. Avoid the half-free morel (bottom photo), which has a longer stem and a cap that attaches near the top, looking like an umbrella. These mushrooms can cause some people to have cramps or other forms of gastrointestinal distress.

Definitely Don’t Eat This

Don’t eat this mushroom, which is a false morel and is mildly toxic. Notice that it lacks the cone shape of the real thing, and has wrinkles, not pits, on its cap.

Where to Look

Morels live in and on the edge of forested areas. Look for ash, aspen, elm, and oak trees, around which morels often grow. Early in the spring as the ground is warming, you’ll find them on south-facing slopes in fairly open areas. As the season progresses, go deeper into the woods and onto north-facing slopes.

Well-drained, sandy soils like this creek bottom make good hunting spots as well. You’ll find the first morels of the year when daytime highs reach the 60s and lows stay above 40 degrees.

Hunting Tactics

Hunting morels is like bass fishing. You cover ground until you find one, then slow down and search the area carefully. Concentrate the rest of your hunt on similar areas, on the theory that you’ve found the “pattern” for the day.

Early-Season Morels

The first morels of the season are small. It takes quite a few to make a meal. The acorn top and walnut husk in the hand above help show scale.

Look For Dead Trees

Morels often grow around dead and dying trees. Old apple orchards make good hunting grounds. Always look around dead elm trees like this one. When a tree reaches the stage of decay where its bark is slipping off its trunk you’ll often find lots of morels around it.

Later in the Season

As the season progresses you find bigger, yellow morels. They taste just as good as the smaller ones, they’re easier to spot, and it doesn’t take as many to feed a hungry hunter.

Soaking morels in water for a couple of hours cleans them and washes out any bugs living inside the hollow mushrooms. Some people slice them in half lengthwise for a more thorough cleaning.

Here you see morels sautéing in butter. Cooking in butter brings out their rich, almost meaty flavor. If I don’t have very many, I like to scramble them into eggs with some tarragon. Batter-fried morels are also very popular.